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Beer fight in Basel

06-03-2008, 01:41 PM

Weird things happening here...

I don't know how many of you are aware that the European football championship is about to start (that would be soccer to some of you). Football is big over here. And Basel is one of the host cities....

Ever heard of the UEFA (Union of European Football Associations)? They've sold exclusive rights to various sponsors for the entire championship inside and outside the stadium... which means that the only beer any Basel restaurant or bar in the fan zone is allowed to sell for the duration is Carlsberg. They're not allowed to have sun shades, beer mats or beer glasses with any other beer logo on either. And you're even not supposed to wear a T-shirt or hat with the logo of any other beer...

Three restaurants, right in the centre of the officially designated fan zone, have refused... so they reached a compromise: they're going to put up a 2 m high fence round them from midday to midnight, to put them "outside" the fan zone again.

And if there's one place I'm going to visit during this whole football hooha, its going to be one of those three places there! Bet I won't be alone?

One local Basel brewery has issued a T-shirt with "Basel: more than just Calrsbreg" and its own brand name (Unser Bier, in case you wondered) - I'll be sure to be wearing one when I go for that beer...

"Building a Brick oven is the most fun anyone can have by themselves." (Terry Pratchett... slightly amended)

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Missing the Brits, we've decided to adopt the Italian (Azzurre). We watched the last World Cup Italy - Germany game in a bar (overtime), and the Italy - France (shootout) final at home. That was excellent.

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As strange as that marketing frenzy is, I don't think it's as odd as what happened in Germany during the World Cup. If I understand correctly, Budweiser somehow got exclusive rights to stadium sales. In GERMANY!

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Ed, I remember when I was watching the Germany World Cup on TV that I thought it was strange to see Budweiser advertisements. I never confirmed this one way or the other, but one of my friends was actaully in Germany during the cup and told me that Budweiser was only allowed to advertise, and could not sell any of their beer in Germany. My friend said Budweiser brand beer did not meet the strict German Beer requirment of only having four ingredients. I'm not sure if four ingredients is all you need. I don't know much about beer, other than the fact it tastes really good. Even better when its served really cold, at any sporting event.

I have to admit that in a sort of beer-snob way, I'm glad they weren't allowed to serve. There are so many good American beers, and Budweiser, IMO, is decidedly not among them. Small breweries invariably produce a better product, as do many larger ones.

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Nearly missed this one, I know nothing about football but beer,,,,
RHINHEITSGEBOT, The sixteenth century Bavarian "Pure Beer Pledge", is still in force throughout Germany. It stipulates that beer can only be brewed with malted barley and wheat, hops, yeast and water.
The EU and the European Court have ruled that other beers can be imported into Germany but I am pleased to say that they are making little headway.
After all that I thinkI need a drink. Richard

sigpicNever put off untill tomorrow what you can do today. If you enjoy it today, you can do it again tomorrow.

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I went into town last Thursday when they were showing the match Holland against ... oh, some other team. And the place was as dead as a Dodo.

Here are some pics of the corded off areas, which DON'T belong to the fan zone... you can recognise them because they are doing quite a brisk trade, unlike the official beer sellig stands which have been grousing about not having enough customers to pay for the 2000 USD per day rent they're being charged. The last one is from inside the non-fan-zone area, looking out towards the huge "public viewing" screen (that's what they call it....)

Ok ok, the ones without people were before the match, there may have been one or two spectators later on...

And there's a picture of Basle's market place, with my Mom dressed in Swiss colours looking at her Swiss watch . I've never actually seen it so empty before. Not on a warm Summer evening anyway!

The beer was good though: one Apenzeller Holfass Bier, one Apenzeller Weissbier and one dunkles Bier. And NO Carlsberg

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Right, on Saturday the Holland team played Russia and we took the kiddies into town in the afternoon...

Apparently there have never been so many people in Basle before. Ever.

Those Oranje fans are quite something! Most of the Swiss people were wearing orange, too, since Switzerland lost so ignamously. Including my children - so the whole town was PACKED with people dressed in orange, dancing and singing - the Holland fans brought their own DJs and they organised a huge procession walking out to the stadion, with a double decker bus in front. It took about two hours for them all to walk past. And those were only the ones who had tickets, it not as if the town was any emptier afterwards!

Here are some pics, all kinds of dressing up, cross dressing, lion skins on thier heads (it was very hot that day), swimming costumes, you name it.

On Saturday, half a million litres of beer were consumed in Basel! (How much of that was Carlsberg I don't know - I found someone selling Heineken...